In Brief

Beaver Bites Man to Death on Fishing Trip

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Not the offending beaver.
Not the offending beaver. (Image credit: Tom Smylie, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service)

You won't like the beaver when it's angry. Earlier this month, a man in Belarus was killed by a beaver after trying to take its photograph, according to news reports.

The man was on a fishing trip with two friends at Lake Shestakov, when he spotted a seemingly innocuous beaver on the side of the road. The animal then jumped onto him and bit him in the leg, severing an artery, reported Sky News. He then bled to death.

Beavers are usually shy and most attacks are suspected to come from rabid animals, scientists say. However, attacks aren't unheard of. "Last year in the U.S. two girls were mauled by a beaver in a lake in Virginia as they swam," Sky News reported. "They suffered serious bite and scratch injuries. A man was also attacked in New York and an elderly woman in Washington."

A rabid beaver also bit three people in a Philadelphia park in 2011. 

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Douglas Main
Douglas Main
Douglas Main loves the weird and wonderful world of science, digging into amazing Planet Earth discoveries and wacky animal findings (from marsupials mating themselves to death to zombie worms to tear-drinking butterflies) for Live Science. Follow Doug on Google+.